CA2190815A1 - Cable containing easily identifiable optical ribbons - Google Patents
Cable containing easily identifiable optical ribbonsInfo
- Publication number
- CA2190815A1 CA2190815A1 CA 2190815 CA2190815A CA2190815A1 CA 2190815 A1 CA2190815 A1 CA 2190815A1 CA 2190815 CA2190815 CA 2190815 CA 2190815 A CA2190815 A CA 2190815A CA 2190815 A1 CA2190815 A1 CA 2190815A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- optical fiber
- ribbons
- telecommunication cable
- ribbon
- set out
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
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- 238000004040 coloring Methods 0.000 description 4
- 239000000835 fiber Substances 0.000 description 4
- 238000010276 construction Methods 0.000 description 3
- 239000011159 matrix material Substances 0.000 description 3
- 239000004033 plastic Substances 0.000 description 3
- 229910000831 Steel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 2
- 239000000969 carrier Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000009434 installation Methods 0.000 description 2
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- NIXOWILDQLNWCW-UHFFFAOYSA-M Acrylate Chemical compound [O-]C(=O)C=C NIXOWILDQLNWCW-UHFFFAOYSA-M 0.000 description 1
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- 239000000853 adhesive Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000001070 adhesive effect Effects 0.000 description 1
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- 229920003235 aromatic polyamide Polymers 0.000 description 1
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- KAATUXNTWXVJKI-UHFFFAOYSA-N cypermethrin Chemical compound CC1(C)C(C=C(Cl)Cl)C1C(=O)OC(C#N)C1=CC=CC(OC=2C=CC=CC=2)=C1 KAATUXNTWXVJKI-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 230000006866 deterioration Effects 0.000 description 1
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Landscapes
- Optical Fibers, Optical Fiber Cores, And Optical Fiber Bundles (AREA)
- Light Guides In General And Applications Therefor (AREA)
- Impression-Transfer Materials And Handling Thereof (AREA)
- Printers Characterized By Their Purpose (AREA)
Abstract
Ribbons and ribbon subunits in optical fiber cables may be distinguished from one another by printing binary or machine-readable bar coded information inperiodic fashion along the length of the ribbons or ribbon subunits. The code repetitions may be placed on the ribbons by an ink jet printer.
Description
Cable Containing Easily Ide~ ial~le Optical Ribbons Background of the Invention This invention relates to optical fiber telecommunication cables containing optical fiber ribbons.
Telecommunication cables containing light waveguides, herein called optical fibers, are now in widespread use in telecommunication networks. Some telecommunication cables employ optical fibers in the form of an optical fiber ribbon. An optical ribbon, as used herein, means a substantially planar array of optical fibers enclosed by, mounted on, or embedded within a narrow, flat ribbon or band of a polymer material, or joined in other ways by a material, such as by edge bonding. Optical ribbons have a certain advantage in high fiber count telecommunication cables, in that techniques are being developed to mass-fusion splice optical ribbons to each other. Such mass splicing may help to reduce installation costs in some network installations. The availability of multi-fiber ribbon-to-ribbon connectors provides another advantage.
Any of a variety of cable designs may contain optical ribbons. The optical ribbons may be housed in grooves located in the external surface of a cylindrical rod. Optical ribbons may be located in a tube located at the central axis of the RIBID.PAT
cable, or in a plurality of tubes arranged about a cable central tensile-resistant member. In each case, each tube or groove may contain a stack of optical ribbons.
If a cable is manufactured to contain a large number of optical ribbons, the problem arises of identifying the individual ribbons and distinguishing the optical ribbons from one another. One way to identify optical ribbons is by forming the polymer tape or coating of a transparent material and coloring the outer surface of the optical fibers of the ribbon. The optical fiber coatings may be colored, and colored binder tapes or threads may be employed. However, some persons cannot distinguish certain colors, and the coloration may be rather faint in order to avoid deterioration of desirable properties of the optical fibers or optical ribbons due to properties of the pigments.
The use of colors alone as an identifying means may be insufficient when dealing with high fiber count cables. The problem is multiplied when using cables employing splittable optical ribbons. One expedient which has been used is to rely on the marking or positioning of tubes or carriers containing the ribbons or ribbon stacks. Ring marking has been employed, as shown in U.S. Pat. No.
5,379,363 and the article "Stranding machines for optical fibre ribbon cables"
appearing in the Dec. 1994 edition of wire.
Printing words on ribbons has also been employed, also as shown in the article appearing in wire referenced above. Most optical fiber ribbons are quite narrow, however, rendering print difficult to read. Another difficulty is that words are of less use when dealing with cables shipped between countries using RIPI~) PAT 2 different languages. None of these solutions is fully adequate to deal with the problem of identifying and distinguishing large numbers of optical ribbons from each other in high fiber count cables.
Summary of the Invention It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide means for adequately identifying large numbers of optical ribbons and for distinguishing them from each other by inspection of the ribbons alone, without reliance on positional information.
It is another object of the present invention to provide identification means which do not depend on the presence of colors or printed words.
Still another object of the invention is to provide identification means which may be commonly employed in areas using different spoken languages.
These and other objects are provided, according to the present invention, by an optical fiber ribbon cable containing ribbons having improved means for identification .
Cables according to a first embodiment of the invention contain optical fiber ribbons marked with a binary code.
Cables according to a second embodiment of the invention contain optical fiber ribbons marked with a machine-readable bar code.
Optical fiber ribbons of either embodiment may comprise splittable subunits, each subunit being separately coded for further identification.
Pl~iD PAT 3 Brief Description of the Drawings The invention is described with reference to the several drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a cable according to the invention containing coded optical fiber ribbons;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a splittable optical fiber ribbon comprising binary-coded subunits;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a splittable optical fiber ribbon comprising bar-coded subunits;
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view along lines 4-4 of FIG. 2;
Fig. 5 is a stack of binary coded optical fiber ribbons; and, Fig. 6 is a stack of bar coded optical fiber ribbons.
Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which one or more preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the disclosure will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale but are configured to clearly illustrate the invention.
Cable 10 as shown in Fig. 1 contains a core tube 28 formed of plastic PIPID.PAT 4 Brief Description of the Drawings The invention is described with reference to the several drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a cable according to the invention containing coded optical fiber ribbons;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a splittable optical fiber ribbon comprising binary-coded subunits;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a splittable optical fiber ribbon comprising bar-coded subunits;
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view along lines 4-4 of FIG. 2;
Fig. 5 is a stack of binary coded optical fiber ribbons; and, Fig. 6 is a stack of bar coded optical fiber ribbons.
Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which one or more preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the disclosure will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale but are configured to clearly illustrate the invention.
RIE~ID PAT 5 Cable 10 as shown in Fig. 1 contains a core tube 28 formed of plastic material loosely surrounding ten optical fiber ribbons 12. A filling compound 27 occupies the portion of the interior of tube 28 which is not occupied by ribbons 12. Surrounding tube 28 is a water-swellable tape 29. Overlying tape 29 is an aramid yarn ripcord 30, which underlies a steel tape armor 31. Armor 31 is secured by adhesive 32 to outer jacket 35, which is formed of plastic material.
Steel wires 34 are embedded 180 degrees apart from each other within outer sheath 35 near its inner surface. Ripcords 33 are disposed between armor 31 and outer sheath 35.
Cabies according to the invention may contain at least two optical fiber ribbons, and may contain over one hundred optical fiber ribbons 12 which must be distinguishable from each other. A cable according to the invention may also contain at least one optical fiber ribbon having a plurality of ribbon subunits. Of course, the invention is not limited to the single tube design of FIG. 1; coded ribbons may be inserted into other cable designs such as slotted core-type cables, stranded tube type cables, or cables having U-shaped carriers, by way of example. Cable 10 may contain binary coded optical fiber ribbons as shown in Fig. 2 or 5 or bar coded optical fiber ribbons as shown in Fig. 3 or 6 and discussed hereafter.
An optical fiber ribbon 12 according to a first embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 2 comprises detachable ribbon subunits 21, 22, each having separate binary coding thereon. The binary coding preferably avoids the use of arabic numerals or alphabetic characters, and may be in the form of rectangles .
as shown. Ribbon subunit 21 bears binary code 19, and ribbon subunit If~2 bears binary code 20. Ribbon subunit 21 contains a plurality of optical fibers 26, and subunit 22 contains a plurality of optical fibers 14. Optical fibers 14, 26 may each have a different surface coloring 38 thereon to enable the optical fibers to be distinguished from each other. The optical fiber coloring should be light in order not to interfere with reading tf~e ink coding. The ribbon subunit matrix material 17, 18 (see ~ig. 4) may be formed of a transparent or translucent acrylate material cured by ultraviolet light. Matrix material 171 18 should be formed of a material which allows the optical fiber colors to be seen, yet provides a suitable background against which the binary codes may be interpreted. The optical fibers may be disposed to be spaced apart from each other or in side-to-side contact, such as through edge bonding.
A ribbon subunit may be respooled after the subunit is made by forming à
common coating such as 17, 18 around the optical fibers. An ink jet printer may then be used to print a short string of characters on the exterior surface of the common subunit coating by using a binary code font in a periodic fashion along the length of the ribbon subunit. A coding scheme should be selected such that each ribbon subunit may be distinguishable from the others. This may be accomplished by printing in a five character string binary font, with a dot representing "0" and a dash representing "1". Suitable ink jet printers may be obtained from Video Jet Systems International, Inc. of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, using type "8900" printing ink.
PI~IID PAT 7 After the coding is imprinted, each subunit 21, 22 may then be covered by a common coating 25 of transparent or translucent material cured by ultraviolet light. Examples of such materials are matrix coating 314-200-3 supplied by Borden, Inc. and CableLite 3287-9-77 supplied by DSM Desotech Inc. The subunit binary character strings should be spaced apart longitudinally with respect to each other as shown in Fig. 2 so that they will be more easily read.
Another optical fiber ribbon 12' according to a second embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 3 comprises ribbon subunit 21, bearing machine-readable bar coding 23, and ribbon subunit 22, bearing machine-readable bar coding 24.
Respooled bar coded ribbon subunits may be coded by printing thereon a string of less than ten characters using a USS-39 (CODE 39) bar code symbology in a periodic fashion along the length of the ribbon. This results in a field of not less than three and not more than twelve characters, including start and stop characters. Optical fiber ribbons 12 and 12' are similar in other respects. The construction of optical fiber ribbon 12' shown in Fig. 3 is the same as the construction of optical fiber ribbon 12 shown in Fig. 4, with the substitution of bar coding 23, 24 for binary coding 19, 20. Processing of optical fiber ribbons 12 and 12' is also generally similar.
In either embodiment, each ribbon subunit should have a code unique in that cable.
In constructing optical fiber ribbons which are to be identifiable by bar coding, character recognition by print contrast signal (PCS) may be used. In PCS-based methods, the percentage reflectance of spaces between the inked symbols is compared with the reflectance of the inked symbols. The narrowest bars in the inked symbols are referred to as the nominal narrow elements. The minimum reflectance within any space or quiet zone should be 25 percent, and the maximum reflectance of any bar should be 25 percent. The PCS is the difference between these two values and ideally should be at least 75 percent If the nominal narrow elements have a width of 0.508 mm or less, the minimum reflectance of the spaces should be at least 50 percent, and should be at least 25 percent if the width of the nominal narrow elements is more than 0.508 mm.
Some inks used for coloring optical fibers may not have sufficient reflectance for use with particular bar code reading machines. Orange, white, red, yellow, violet, and pink inks have been found to provide a more suitable background than blue, green, brown, and black inks. An adjustment in the percentage of pigment used may be necessary in some instances.
An example of bar coding which may be employed is AIM uniform symbology specification USS-39 (CODE 39) having a nominal narrow element width of 0.4 inches. Of course, other symbologies and element widths may be used.
A hand-held bar code reading machine may be used to interpret the bar coding. The use of strings having a length of less than ten characters allows the user to read the codes more easily in the field The binary or bar codes are preferably applied by an ink jet printing device, but any suitable printing device may be used that provides coding characters that are sufficiently clear and distinct. Each binary or bar code R1~3ID PAT g preferably is printed in periodic fashon throughout the length of the ribbon, and each code repetition preferably may be preceded by a recognition symbol such as shown in Fig. 2. If the sul~slrate material is dark, the binary or bar coding may be formed by printing a light background, with the bars formed by substrate areas with no printing thereover.
Whether or not an optical fiber ribbon contains ribbon subunits, binar~ or machine-readable bar coding may be printed on the exterior surface of a common ribbon coating. Either splittable ribbon subunits or nonsplittable optical fiber ribbons may be coded. A stack 36 of nonsplittable optical fiber ribbons containing binary coding is shown in Fig. 5, and a stack 37 of nonsplittable optical fiber ribbons is shown in Fig. 6. The stacks of either Fig. 5 or Fig. 6 may be employed in cable 10.
It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of the construction, operation, exact materials, or embodiments shown and described, as modifications and equivalents will be apparent to one skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention.
PilBlD PAT 1 0
Telecommunication cables containing light waveguides, herein called optical fibers, are now in widespread use in telecommunication networks. Some telecommunication cables employ optical fibers in the form of an optical fiber ribbon. An optical ribbon, as used herein, means a substantially planar array of optical fibers enclosed by, mounted on, or embedded within a narrow, flat ribbon or band of a polymer material, or joined in other ways by a material, such as by edge bonding. Optical ribbons have a certain advantage in high fiber count telecommunication cables, in that techniques are being developed to mass-fusion splice optical ribbons to each other. Such mass splicing may help to reduce installation costs in some network installations. The availability of multi-fiber ribbon-to-ribbon connectors provides another advantage.
Any of a variety of cable designs may contain optical ribbons. The optical ribbons may be housed in grooves located in the external surface of a cylindrical rod. Optical ribbons may be located in a tube located at the central axis of the RIBID.PAT
cable, or in a plurality of tubes arranged about a cable central tensile-resistant member. In each case, each tube or groove may contain a stack of optical ribbons.
If a cable is manufactured to contain a large number of optical ribbons, the problem arises of identifying the individual ribbons and distinguishing the optical ribbons from one another. One way to identify optical ribbons is by forming the polymer tape or coating of a transparent material and coloring the outer surface of the optical fibers of the ribbon. The optical fiber coatings may be colored, and colored binder tapes or threads may be employed. However, some persons cannot distinguish certain colors, and the coloration may be rather faint in order to avoid deterioration of desirable properties of the optical fibers or optical ribbons due to properties of the pigments.
The use of colors alone as an identifying means may be insufficient when dealing with high fiber count cables. The problem is multiplied when using cables employing splittable optical ribbons. One expedient which has been used is to rely on the marking or positioning of tubes or carriers containing the ribbons or ribbon stacks. Ring marking has been employed, as shown in U.S. Pat. No.
5,379,363 and the article "Stranding machines for optical fibre ribbon cables"
appearing in the Dec. 1994 edition of wire.
Printing words on ribbons has also been employed, also as shown in the article appearing in wire referenced above. Most optical fiber ribbons are quite narrow, however, rendering print difficult to read. Another difficulty is that words are of less use when dealing with cables shipped between countries using RIPI~) PAT 2 different languages. None of these solutions is fully adequate to deal with the problem of identifying and distinguishing large numbers of optical ribbons from each other in high fiber count cables.
Summary of the Invention It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide means for adequately identifying large numbers of optical ribbons and for distinguishing them from each other by inspection of the ribbons alone, without reliance on positional information.
It is another object of the present invention to provide identification means which do not depend on the presence of colors or printed words.
Still another object of the invention is to provide identification means which may be commonly employed in areas using different spoken languages.
These and other objects are provided, according to the present invention, by an optical fiber ribbon cable containing ribbons having improved means for identification .
Cables according to a first embodiment of the invention contain optical fiber ribbons marked with a binary code.
Cables according to a second embodiment of the invention contain optical fiber ribbons marked with a machine-readable bar code.
Optical fiber ribbons of either embodiment may comprise splittable subunits, each subunit being separately coded for further identification.
Pl~iD PAT 3 Brief Description of the Drawings The invention is described with reference to the several drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a cable according to the invention containing coded optical fiber ribbons;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a splittable optical fiber ribbon comprising binary-coded subunits;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a splittable optical fiber ribbon comprising bar-coded subunits;
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view along lines 4-4 of FIG. 2;
Fig. 5 is a stack of binary coded optical fiber ribbons; and, Fig. 6 is a stack of bar coded optical fiber ribbons.
Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which one or more preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the disclosure will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale but are configured to clearly illustrate the invention.
Cable 10 as shown in Fig. 1 contains a core tube 28 formed of plastic PIPID.PAT 4 Brief Description of the Drawings The invention is described with reference to the several drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a cable according to the invention containing coded optical fiber ribbons;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a splittable optical fiber ribbon comprising binary-coded subunits;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a splittable optical fiber ribbon comprising bar-coded subunits;
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view along lines 4-4 of FIG. 2;
Fig. 5 is a stack of binary coded optical fiber ribbons; and, Fig. 6 is a stack of bar coded optical fiber ribbons.
Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which one or more preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the disclosure will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale but are configured to clearly illustrate the invention.
RIE~ID PAT 5 Cable 10 as shown in Fig. 1 contains a core tube 28 formed of plastic material loosely surrounding ten optical fiber ribbons 12. A filling compound 27 occupies the portion of the interior of tube 28 which is not occupied by ribbons 12. Surrounding tube 28 is a water-swellable tape 29. Overlying tape 29 is an aramid yarn ripcord 30, which underlies a steel tape armor 31. Armor 31 is secured by adhesive 32 to outer jacket 35, which is formed of plastic material.
Steel wires 34 are embedded 180 degrees apart from each other within outer sheath 35 near its inner surface. Ripcords 33 are disposed between armor 31 and outer sheath 35.
Cabies according to the invention may contain at least two optical fiber ribbons, and may contain over one hundred optical fiber ribbons 12 which must be distinguishable from each other. A cable according to the invention may also contain at least one optical fiber ribbon having a plurality of ribbon subunits. Of course, the invention is not limited to the single tube design of FIG. 1; coded ribbons may be inserted into other cable designs such as slotted core-type cables, stranded tube type cables, or cables having U-shaped carriers, by way of example. Cable 10 may contain binary coded optical fiber ribbons as shown in Fig. 2 or 5 or bar coded optical fiber ribbons as shown in Fig. 3 or 6 and discussed hereafter.
An optical fiber ribbon 12 according to a first embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 2 comprises detachable ribbon subunits 21, 22, each having separate binary coding thereon. The binary coding preferably avoids the use of arabic numerals or alphabetic characters, and may be in the form of rectangles .
as shown. Ribbon subunit 21 bears binary code 19, and ribbon subunit If~2 bears binary code 20. Ribbon subunit 21 contains a plurality of optical fibers 26, and subunit 22 contains a plurality of optical fibers 14. Optical fibers 14, 26 may each have a different surface coloring 38 thereon to enable the optical fibers to be distinguished from each other. The optical fiber coloring should be light in order not to interfere with reading tf~e ink coding. The ribbon subunit matrix material 17, 18 (see ~ig. 4) may be formed of a transparent or translucent acrylate material cured by ultraviolet light. Matrix material 171 18 should be formed of a material which allows the optical fiber colors to be seen, yet provides a suitable background against which the binary codes may be interpreted. The optical fibers may be disposed to be spaced apart from each other or in side-to-side contact, such as through edge bonding.
A ribbon subunit may be respooled after the subunit is made by forming à
common coating such as 17, 18 around the optical fibers. An ink jet printer may then be used to print a short string of characters on the exterior surface of the common subunit coating by using a binary code font in a periodic fashion along the length of the ribbon subunit. A coding scheme should be selected such that each ribbon subunit may be distinguishable from the others. This may be accomplished by printing in a five character string binary font, with a dot representing "0" and a dash representing "1". Suitable ink jet printers may be obtained from Video Jet Systems International, Inc. of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, using type "8900" printing ink.
PI~IID PAT 7 After the coding is imprinted, each subunit 21, 22 may then be covered by a common coating 25 of transparent or translucent material cured by ultraviolet light. Examples of such materials are matrix coating 314-200-3 supplied by Borden, Inc. and CableLite 3287-9-77 supplied by DSM Desotech Inc. The subunit binary character strings should be spaced apart longitudinally with respect to each other as shown in Fig. 2 so that they will be more easily read.
Another optical fiber ribbon 12' according to a second embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 3 comprises ribbon subunit 21, bearing machine-readable bar coding 23, and ribbon subunit 22, bearing machine-readable bar coding 24.
Respooled bar coded ribbon subunits may be coded by printing thereon a string of less than ten characters using a USS-39 (CODE 39) bar code symbology in a periodic fashion along the length of the ribbon. This results in a field of not less than three and not more than twelve characters, including start and stop characters. Optical fiber ribbons 12 and 12' are similar in other respects. The construction of optical fiber ribbon 12' shown in Fig. 3 is the same as the construction of optical fiber ribbon 12 shown in Fig. 4, with the substitution of bar coding 23, 24 for binary coding 19, 20. Processing of optical fiber ribbons 12 and 12' is also generally similar.
In either embodiment, each ribbon subunit should have a code unique in that cable.
In constructing optical fiber ribbons which are to be identifiable by bar coding, character recognition by print contrast signal (PCS) may be used. In PCS-based methods, the percentage reflectance of spaces between the inked symbols is compared with the reflectance of the inked symbols. The narrowest bars in the inked symbols are referred to as the nominal narrow elements. The minimum reflectance within any space or quiet zone should be 25 percent, and the maximum reflectance of any bar should be 25 percent. The PCS is the difference between these two values and ideally should be at least 75 percent If the nominal narrow elements have a width of 0.508 mm or less, the minimum reflectance of the spaces should be at least 50 percent, and should be at least 25 percent if the width of the nominal narrow elements is more than 0.508 mm.
Some inks used for coloring optical fibers may not have sufficient reflectance for use with particular bar code reading machines. Orange, white, red, yellow, violet, and pink inks have been found to provide a more suitable background than blue, green, brown, and black inks. An adjustment in the percentage of pigment used may be necessary in some instances.
An example of bar coding which may be employed is AIM uniform symbology specification USS-39 (CODE 39) having a nominal narrow element width of 0.4 inches. Of course, other symbologies and element widths may be used.
A hand-held bar code reading machine may be used to interpret the bar coding. The use of strings having a length of less than ten characters allows the user to read the codes more easily in the field The binary or bar codes are preferably applied by an ink jet printing device, but any suitable printing device may be used that provides coding characters that are sufficiently clear and distinct. Each binary or bar code R1~3ID PAT g preferably is printed in periodic fashon throughout the length of the ribbon, and each code repetition preferably may be preceded by a recognition symbol such as shown in Fig. 2. If the sul~slrate material is dark, the binary or bar coding may be formed by printing a light background, with the bars formed by substrate areas with no printing thereover.
Whether or not an optical fiber ribbon contains ribbon subunits, binar~ or machine-readable bar coding may be printed on the exterior surface of a common ribbon coating. Either splittable ribbon subunits or nonsplittable optical fiber ribbons may be coded. A stack 36 of nonsplittable optical fiber ribbons containing binary coding is shown in Fig. 5, and a stack 37 of nonsplittable optical fiber ribbons is shown in Fig. 6. The stacks of either Fig. 5 or Fig. 6 may be employed in cable 10.
It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of the construction, operation, exact materials, or embodiments shown and described, as modifications and equivalents will be apparent to one skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention.
PilBlD PAT 1 0
Claims (14)
1. A telecommunication cable containing optical fibers in identifiable ribbons, comprising an outer sheath containing a plurality of optical fiber ribbons, at least two of said ribbons each having binary coded information thereon enabling each of said coded optical fiber ribbons to be identified and distinguished from the other said coded optical fiber ribbons.
2. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 1, wherein each optical fiber contained in said coded optical fiber ribbons is colored to enable said optical fibers within a single coded optical fiber ribbon to be visually distinguished from one another.
3. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 1, wherein said binary coding comprises at least one symbol other than Arabic numerals or alphabetic characters.
4. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 1, wherein said binary coding is repeated on at least one ribbon in periodic fashion, with each repetition preceded by a recognition symbol.
5. A telecommunication cable containing identifiable optical fiber ribbons, comprising an outer sheath containing a plurality of optical fiber ribbons, at least one of said ribbons each comprising subunits separable from each other, each said subunit having binary coded information thereon enabling said subunit to be identified and distinguished from other said subunits.
6. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 5, wherein each optical fiber contained in said subunits is colored to enable said optical fibers within a single subunit to be visually distinguished from one another.
7. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 5, wherein said binary coding comprises at least one symbol other than Arabic numerals or alphabetic characters.
8. A telecommunication cable containing identifiable optical fiber ribbons, comprising an outer sheath containing a plurality of optical fiber ribbons, at least two of said ribbons each having machine-readable bar coded information thereon enabling said optical fiber ribbons to be identified and distinguished from other optical fiber ribbons in the cable.
9. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 8, wherein each optical fiber contained in said optical fiber ribbons is colored to enable said optical fibers within a single optical fiber ribbon to be visually distinguished from one another.
10. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 8, wherein said bar coding on each optical fiber ribbon is printed in a field of not less than three and not more than twelve characters.
11. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 8, wherein said bar coding is repeated on at least one ribbon in periodic fashion, with each repetition preceded by a recognition symbol.
12 A telecommunication cable containing identifiable optical fiber ribbons, comprising an outer sheath containing a plurality of optical fiber ribbons, at least one of said ribbons each comprising subunits separable from each other, each said subunit having machine-readable bar coded information thereon enabling said subunit to be identified and distinguished from other said subunits.
13. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 12, wherein each optical fiber contained in each of said subunits is colored to enable said optical fibers within a single said subunit to be visually distinguished from one another.
14. A telecommunication cable as set out in claim 12, wherein said bar coding on each of said subunits is printed in a field of not less than three and not more than twelve characters.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US57619195A | 1995-12-21 | 1995-12-21 | |
| US08/576,191 | 1995-12-21 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2190815A1 true CA2190815A1 (en) | 1997-06-22 |
Family
ID=24303347
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2190815 Abandoned CA2190815A1 (en) | 1995-12-21 | 1996-11-20 | Cable containing easily identifiable optical ribbons |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPH09184949A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2190815A1 (en) |
| MX (1) | MX9606028A (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US11656423B2 (en) | 2019-03-28 | 2023-05-23 | Corning Research & Development Corporation | Colored ribbon with discrete color layers |
Families Citing this family (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US6532329B1 (en) | 2000-03-29 | 2003-03-11 | Alcatel | Identification scheme for splittable ribbon products |
| US6748340B2 (en) | 2002-09-20 | 2004-06-08 | Ntt Infrastructure Network Corporation | Cable position information management system, facility information management system, cable core wire management system, and methods and programs thereof |
| JP2014016530A (en) * | 2012-07-10 | 2014-01-30 | Sumitomo Electric Ind Ltd | Optical fiber ribbon unit and optical fiber cable |
| JP2017125931A (en) * | 2016-01-13 | 2017-07-20 | 住友電気工業株式会社 | Intermittently-coupled type optical fiber ribbon, optical cable, and method of manufacturing intermittently-coupled type optical fiber ribbon |
| WO2021006647A1 (en) * | 2019-07-10 | 2021-01-14 | 엘에스전선 주식회사 | Iot-based cable used in cable management system |
| CN114097043A (en) * | 2019-07-10 | 2022-02-25 | Ls电线有限公司 | IOT-based cable for use in cable management system |
-
1996
- 1996-11-20 CA CA 2190815 patent/CA2190815A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 1996-12-02 MX MX9606028A patent/MX9606028A/en unknown
- 1996-12-20 JP JP8341774A patent/JPH09184949A/en active Pending
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US11656423B2 (en) | 2019-03-28 | 2023-05-23 | Corning Research & Development Corporation | Colored ribbon with discrete color layers |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| JPH09184949A (en) | 1997-07-15 |
| MX9606028A (en) | 1997-06-28 |
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